Left Brain scan images from Zen, a retriever mix. Right Dr. Berns training a dog to remain still for an MRI.
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THE ANIMAL DICTIONARY
Birds chirp, dolphins whistle, dogs bark—but does
it mean anything? Some researchers think it does.
One recent experiment conducted by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers
used AI software to figure out what marmosets
(a type of monkey) were saying to each other.
The software took audio segments of marmoset
conversations, categorized them into five common
types of monkey vocalizations (such as a trill or
chirp), made a spectrogram (a visual representation)
of each sound, and trained an algorithm to classify
the resulting shapes. The software accurately
identified which call the monkeys were making more
than 90 percent of the time.
Taking a cue from the marmoset study,
researchers at Swedish text analytics company
Gavagai AB are using AI in their own work on
dolphins at a wildlife park 90 miles south of
Stockholm. Dolphins make great subjects because
they love to talk and have nicknames for each
other—a human-like tendency.
“Dolphins are crazy-cool creatures, and they do
all kinds of wonderful things,” says Jussi Karlgren,
a linguist and co-founder of Gavagai. “They seem
to chatter with each other all the time, especially
when the lights are out and humans go to bed. All
through the night they swim around. They seem to
be busy talking to each other about something.”
Dolphins, like humans, personalize their forms
of communication. A whistle, Karlgren explains,
can stand for a nickname. “They seem to acquire
unique whistles from their mother when they are
small. Other dolphins know this whistle and use it
for calling one another.”
Unlike humans, however, dolphins don’t make
sounds through their mouths: They whistle through
blowholes or click using nasal sacs, both located on
the top of their heads. This allows for an elaborate
sound system, one which Karlgren aims to use
Gavagai’s AI language analysis technology to decode.
HOW’S YOUR PUP FEELING?
If you’ve ever stood in front of your dog and
wondered what’s going on inside his mind, you’re in
luck: Inupathy’s wearable dog collar can tell you if
your good boy is happy or sad.
Inupathy, a mash-up of “insight” and “empathy,”
is a device that functions by deciphering a dog’s
emotions via a collar that has built-in sensors that
capture your pet’s heartbeat information, also
known as heart rate variability (HRV), not unlike a
fitness wearable.
The device’s creator, Joji Yamaguchi, a software
PHOTOS (LEFT TO RIGHT) BY DUSTIN CHAMBERS/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX; RAYMOND MCCREA JONES/REDUX